Snapshots: Heiskanen, Raanta, Bertuzzi
Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen was involved in a scary play in last night’s Game 3 loss to the Seattle Kraken, taking a puck to the face in a bad spot. In some positive news, though, head coach Peter DeBoer spoke to reporters, including The Athletic’s Saad Yousuf, today and offered an update on Heiskanen’s condition, labeling him day-to-day.
“He’s here with the group. Obviously a pretty bad cut,” DeBoer said. “I would call him day to day. We’ll see how he feels tomorrow. 24 hours makes a big difference with those types of things.” Fortunately, DeBoer also clarified Heiskanen is not in concussion protocol. It’s great news for Dallas, who needs to rebound after getting dominated by the Kraken last night, although goaltending is mostly to blame. The 23-year-old Heiskanen has seven assists in nine playoff games, tied for third on the team in postseason points.
More from around the NHL today:
- Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Antti Raanta returned to the ice for practice today after missing Games 2 and 3 of the team’s Second Round series against the New Jersey Devils with an illness. NHL.com’s Dan Rosen reported that Raanta participated in the team’s practice, along with current starter Frederik Andersen and third-string netminder Pyotr Kochetkov. Raanta played the first five games of the postseason for Carolina, helping them jump out a 3-2 series lead against the New York Islanders in Round One before Andersen came in to clinch the series.
- Tyler Bertuzzi‘s agent, Todd Reynolds, has not had any talks with the Boston Bruins regarding his client’s future, according to a tweet from Matt Porter of the Boston Globe. In a text message, Reynolds stated that Bertuzzi was “very positive” about his time with the Bruins and would be open to staying, although the stress of cap implications for the Bruins makes it seem unlikely. Bertuzzi tied for the team lead in playoff scoring with 10 points in seven games in their First Round loss to the Florida Panthers.
Snapshots: Edler, Norway, Malgin, Fiala
Speaking with reporters including Zach Dooley of LA Kings Insider at their end-of-season media scrums, Kings defenseman Alexander Edler indicated that he’s not yet sure if he’ll try to return for an 18th NHL season. The 37-year-old played in 64 games this season (including his 1,000th career contest) but was limited to under 15 minutes per night for the first time since his rookie year back in 2006-07. While Edler acknowledged that he feels healthy (he was often rested on back-to-backs this season), he admitted that it might take a while for him to decide if he’s going to continue playing or not. Edler played on a league minimum contract this season with some performance bonuses but will likely need to accept closer to a straight minimum deal if he does want to play in 2023-24.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- With the World Championship fast approaching, Norway was the latest country to reveal its roster for the event. As expected, it doesn’t feature much in the way of NHL content with Blue Jackets prospect Ole Julian Bjorgvik Holm being the only player on an NHL deal. Winger Andreas Martinsen, who played 152 games with Colorado, Montreal, and Chicago over a four-year NHL career, is also on the roster. The tournament gets underway on Friday.
- Avalanche winger Denis Malgin is expected to be a late addition to Switzerland’s roster for the Worlds, according to a report from Watson News. The 26-year-old did well after coming over in a midseason swap, picking up 11 goals in 42 games despite averaging just 10:32 per night. Notably, Malgin does not have a contract for next season; it’s typically rare for a pending free agent to play in this event.
- Also from that report, it will be another week before a decision is made on whether Kings winger Kevin Fiala will participate in the event. The 26-year-old missed the first three games of the playoffs with a lower-body injury and it appears that Los Angeles wants to see how Fiala’s recovery goes over the next few days before deciding on allowing him to participate.
Snapshots: Hofer, Middleton, Senators, Korpisalo
After revealing their initial roster yesterday for the upcoming World Championship, Hockey Canada announced (Twitter link) that Blues goaltender Joel Hofer and Wild defenseman Jacob Middleton have been added to the roster. Hofer spent most of the season with AHL Springfield but didn’t look out of place in six games with St. Louis where he posted a .905 SV%. He’s expected to be the backup for the Blues next season and will compete for playing time in this event with Buffalo’s Devon Levi and Montreal’s Samuel Montembeault.
As for Middleton, the 27-year-old played in 79 games for the Wild this season, picking up 15 points and 155 blocks while logging over 19 minutes a night, all career bests. He also picked up a pair of assists and 24 blocked shots in Minnesota’s opening-round exit to Dallas. It will be his first time representing Canada internationally.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- Another celebrity has joined in on the bidding for the Senators as Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that The Weeknd has joined the Kimel bid, one of the seven groups believed to still be in the race for the team. This comes on the heels of Snoop Dogg partnering up with Neko Sparks’ bid in recent days while Ryan Reynolds and the Remington Group are known to be putting together a competitive bid. The rough deadline for final offers is the middle of May.
- When he met with the media earlier this week including Zach Dooley of LA Kings Insider, Kings goaltender Joonas Korpisalo indicated that there hasn’t been much in the way of discussions on a possible contract extension. The 29-year-old was quite impressive for Los Angeles down the stretch, posting a 2.13 GAA with a .921 SV% in 11 games, helping him earn the starting role for the playoffs. Korpisalo is finishing a one-year, $1.3MM deal that was signed on the heels of an injury-riddled season but now, he’ll enter the open market as one of the top netminders available which could more than triple that rate on his next contract.
Snapshots: Gaudreau, Jonsson-Fjallby, Bell
The Minnesota Wild were eliminated in the first round of the postseason and have now revealed what injuries their players were dealing with in the playoffs. According to Michael Russo of The Athletic, forward Frederick Gaudreau has been dealing with a significant abdominal injury and will require surgery. The injury has been nagging him for four months and he continued to play through it, but will now have surgery to repair the damage.
Gaudreau played all 82 regular season games and all of the team’s six playoff games, so the injury did not take him out of the team’s lineup. The 30-year-old forward scored 19 goals and 38 points for the Wild, adding some depth scoring and playing a gritty, defensively responsible role as well. He added three goals in six postseason contests as well. After proving his value this season, Gaudreau signed a five-year contract extension last month that kicks in next season and has a $2.1MM cap hit.
- While Gaudreau was locked up by his team, one play that is now eligible to hit the open market is Winnipeg Jets forward Alex Jonsson-Fjallby. As capfriendly.com reports, the 25 year old will become a Group 6 UFA because of his age, and career games played. Had the Swedish winger played 75 career games before the end of this season, he would have retained RFA status and remained property of the Jets. He finished this season with 74 career games played.
- The Belleville Senators have announced their new head coach. Per a team release, David Bell will take over behind the bench and becomes the third head coach in franchise history. The 46 year old was the team’s interim head coach since February 2, but was officially named the future bench boss for the 2023-24 season this week. He had been the team’s assistant coach since 2019 and has been behind the bench of an OHL or AHL team going back to the 2004-05 season.
Snapshots: Gavrikov, Rossi, Teravainen
Earlier this afternoon, Helene Elliott of the Los Angeles Times took some quotes from Los Angeles Kings defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, telling the reporter that his family loved living in Los Angeles for the last couple of months, but also said “We’ll see what happens” on whether or not he will extend his tenure with the Kings. Gavrikov is slated to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1st.
Gavrikov had previously spent three seasons playing for the Columbus Blue Jackets, but with the Blue Jackets not meeting expectations this season, Gavrikov was subsequently dealt to the Kings with teammate Joonas Korpisalo. In 52 games in Columbus this season, Gavrikov scored three goals and seven assists, and would almost match that same output in only 20 games in Los Angeles. Gavrikov is one of the better defensive defensemen in the game, as he has blocked over 100 shots in each of his previous last two seasons.
In their opening-round series against the Edmonton Oilers, Gavrikov continued his strong play on the Kings’ back end, playing in all six games, accruing 16 hits, and earning a rating of +5. In the upcoming free agency period in July, Gavrikov joins a list of notable defensemen that play best on the defensive side of the puck, such as Ryan Graves, Scott Mayfield, Connor Clifton, and Dmitry Orlov.
Other snapshots:
- Michael Russo of The Athletic reports that Minnesota Wild prospect, Marco Rossi, will suit up for Team Austria in the 2023 IIHF World Championships. Although playing in limited NHL action over the last two seasons, Rossi has been one of the better performers in the AHL, playing for the Iowa Wild. In his rookie season, Rossi scored 18 goals and 35 assists in 63 games played, and followed that up with almost a point-per-game performance this year, scoring 51 points in 53 games. In the opening round of the Calder Cup Playoffs, although his team was eliminated in two games by the Rockford IceHogs, Rossi managed a goal and an assist.
- In some positive news regarding an injury for the Carolina Hurricanes, Tom Gulitti of the NHL reports that forward Teuvo Teravainen participated in an off-ice workout today. Teravainen is currently healing from a broken hand, and although this is a major step in the right direction for his return, it is still unknown whether or not he will be back for the playoffs. In somewhat of a down year compared to his previous standards, Teravainen only managed 37 points in 65 games this year, but would undoubtedly be a welcome return to a surging Carolina team.
Snapshots: Gronborg, Oligny, Meier
It’s not often you see a team that has won back-to-back league titles change their coach, but this decision was made long ago for Tappara Tampere of the Finnish Liiga. Back in October it was reported that Rikard Gronborg would not be returning to the ZSC Lions after this season, already agreeing to a multi-year contract with Tampere.
Gronborg was introduced today, taking over just a week after the club took home the 2023 title. Interestingly enough, when the commitment was initially reported, it included the note that Gronborg’s contract contains an out clause should the NHL come calling. For years, the decorated international coach has been linked to vacant NHL positions without anything ever materializing.
- Jimmy Oligny is your Yanick Dupré Memorial Award winner for 2022-23, named AHL Man of the Year. The award is given to a minor league player for outstanding contributions to his local community and charitable organizations. Among his many involvements, the Manitoba Moose captain worked with the Kinship and Foster Family Network to host a foster family at every Moose home game.
- Timo Meier was “okay” today, according to New Jersey Devils head coach Lindy Ruff, as the forward continues to recover from a massive hit suffered last round. Mike Morreale of NHL.com relays that Meier is still day-to-day and that the team will know more tomorrow. Without Meier in game one of their second-round series, the Devils were dismantled by the Carolina Hurricanes and will have to try to even things up tomorrow night.
Snapshots: Flames Arena, Mangiapane, Bussi, Senators
The long wait is over for an announcement of a new arena for the Flames as the City of Calgary announced that they have come to an agreement on a new arena and events center. The agreement will be funded between the city ($537MM), the Province of Alberta ($300MM towards supportive infrastructure), and Flames ownership ($356MM) over the next three years. Don Braid of the Calgary Herald notes that this agreement also covers the demolition of the Saddledome, the oldest arena in the NHL which turns 40 in October. There is no projected timeline yet for when the new arena will be operational. Given the scope of the project, it will almost certainly take a while.
Elsewhere around the NHL:
- Still with the Flames, the team announced (Twitter link) that winger Andrew Mangiapane has undergone successful shoulder surgery and will be ready for training camp. The 27-year-old wasn’t able to repeat his 35-goal performance from last season, slipping down to 17 tallies while chipping in with 26 assists to finish eighth on the team in scoring. He has two years left on his deal which carries a $5.8MM AAV so Calgary will certainly be hoping that the surgery will help Mangiapane reclaim his scoring touch.
- The Bruins announced that they’ve re-assigned goaltender Brandon Bussi to AHL Providence. The 24-year-old was recalled last week on an emergency basis but didn’t see any game action, instead serving as their emergency netminder. However, with Providence’s playoff series getting underway on Friday, Boston has sent him back down to get him ready for that series. Bussi had a 2.40 GAA and a .924 SV% in 32 AHL contests this season.
- Things have largely been quiet lately when it comes to the sale of the Senators but Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that it looks like final offers will be required by mid-May. At that time, the seven groups will have had to submit paperwork outlining proof of financing. Expectations are that the club will sell for at least $800MM based on the strong interest in the franchise.
Snapshots: Laine, Jagr, Perreault
Columbus Blue Jackets winger Patrik Laine is heading to the World Championships per a team release. The tournament is taking place in Riga, Latvia and Tampere, Finland which is Laine’s hometown. The tournament begins May 12 and gold medals will be handed out on May 28. Laine has represented his country in the past, but not since the World Cup of Hockey in 2016. He last played at the World Championships in 2016 where he scored seven goals and 12 points in 10 games.
Laine is available due to Columbus finishing the regular season near the bottom of the NHL standings. The 25-year-old sniper scored 22 goals and 52 points in 55 games this season, but the Blue Jackets ended up in 31st with 59 points in the standings. Laine dealt with a number of injuries this season, including an elbow injury that caused him to miss a couple of weeks in October, an ankle injury that knocked him out for another couple weeks in November and an arm injury that caused him to miss the final three weeks of the regular season. A trip to the World Championships in his hometown is a nice way to end a bumpy season that was filled with nagging injuries and many losses.
- Another player who will be playing again in his hometown is veteran winger Jaromir Jagr. Derek O’Brien of IIHF.com reports Jagr will return to Kladno’s lineup next season, during such time he will turn 52 years old. The veteran superstar last played in the NHL in 2017-18, but has been playing in Czech Extraliga ever since where he scored 14 points in 26 games. Jagr scored 766 goals and 1921 points in his NHL career.
- Per Chris Peters of FloHockey reports Gabe Perreault has broken an impressive USA Hockey record. The 17-year-old forward is playing at the World Under-18 Hockey Championships for USA and had a five point effort against Norway today. In the process, he broke the single-season points record by a U.S. National Team Development Player. Perreault now has 121 points on the season. The previous record of 117 was held by Auston Matthews. Will Smith, another draft eligible forward on the team this season has 113 points. The only others to ever score 100 points for the program are Jack Hughes, Clayton Keller and Cole Caufield.
Snapshots: Kartye, King, Bellamy
Earlier today, the American Hockey League announced a major award winner from the 2022-23 season, naming Tye Kartye of the Coachella Valley Firebirds as the Dudley (Red) Garrett Memorial Award winner, which goes to the league’s most outstanding rookie each season. Kartye is under contract with the Seattle Kraken of the NHL, signing towards the end of last season after a three-year stint for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the OHL.
As an undrafted free agent after the 2022 season in the OHL, Kartye may have had an extra chip on his shoulder when he joined the Firebirds this year. Scoring over a point-per-game basis in his last season for the Greyhounds, Kartye followed that up with a 28-goal and 29-assist performance over 72 games this year.
For the most part, over the last quarter century, only a handful of the Dudley Garrett Memorial Award winners have become household names in the NHL. Players such as Daniel Briere, Matt Murray, and Mikko Rantanen have all taken home the award within the last 25 years, and have gone on to be notable names for Stanley Cup contenders. Still only 21 years old, Kartye still has plenty of time to grow his game and make the jump to the NHL.
Other snapshots:
- According to a press release from the Vancouver Canucks, General Manager Patrik Allvin announces that Assistant Coach Jason King will not return to the Canucks for the 2023-24 season. King was originally drafted by the Canucks in the seventh round of the 2001 NHL Draft. Playing in 59 games (55 of which for Vancouver) split between the Canucks and the Anaheim Ducks throughout his career, King scored 11 goals and 12 assists. King has been behind the bench for the Canucks since the 2020-21 season and spent the five years prior working in the same capacity for Vancouver’s AHL affiliate.
- Outside of the NHL, Hailey Salvian of The Athletic reports that Kacey Bellamy has signed a 1-year, $122K contract to play for the Connecticut Whale next season. In her last taste of professional play back in the 2016-17 season, Bellamy played for the Boston Pride, Bellamy scored nine points in 17 games. Unfortunately for Bellamy and the Pride that season, they would lose 3-2 in the Isobel Cup Championship against the Buffalo Beauts.
Snapshots: Wolanin, Dawes, Svechnikov
The AHL continues its award week by handing out the Eddie Shore Award to Christian Wolanin, the league’s most outstanding defenseman for 2022-23. The Abbotsford Canucks defender scored six goals and 55 points in 49 games.
Wolanin, 28, has been on the fringe of the NHL for years, moving up and down but rarely seeing any extended action at the highest level. Since debuting in the 2017-18 season, he has appeared in 86 career NHL games, recording 23 points.
- It’s been years since Nigel Dawes was a regular in the NHL, so fans in North America may not know about his overseas exploits. The 38-year-old finally called it a career today, after spending the last 12 years playing in the KHL and DEL. One of the most prolific offensive players in KHL history, he scored 84 points in 212 NHL games before leaving for international opportunities in 2011.
- While he won’t be able to help the Carolina Hurricanes this postseason, Andrei Svechnikov hopes to be ready for training camp. Svechnikov tore his ACL and underwent surgery on March 16, and was given a six to nine-month recovery timeline. The talented forward is well into his rehab, working out every day in preparation for his return in 2023-24. Even though he can’t help them on the ice, Svechnikov is still part of the team, winding the siren to excite the home crowd before last night’s game.